Kim Cothran- The Plastic Pollution of Midway Island

The Plastic Pollution of Midway Island in Film and Photographs Created by Chris Jordan

By Kim Cothran, January 25, 2013, 4:50pm

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 “The Fatal Shore, Awash in Plastic” by Mark McDonald is an article giving an account of Chris Jordan, a photographer and artist who had traveled to Midway Atoll to film a documentary on the plight of the millions of seabirds who nest on the islands, and the threat that is happening now from floating, plastic pollution landing on the shores of the beaches. This pollution is said to come from a floating vortex (gyre) of currents in the North Pacific Gyre. Chris Jordan, while filming the plight of the albatross, decided to see if pictures could be taken of this mass of plastic because it was said that individuals had tried without success. He had grand thoughts of the pictures he would take. “He’d do well by doing good.” Surprisingly, when he came to the area of the North Pacific Garbage Patch, there was no sign of this floating trash. The larger trash had submerged under the thousands of feet of water. What was left floating was a soup of tiny pieces of plastic,

debris and chemicals. So, there were no photographs to take. This did not deter Jordan’s interest in ocean pollution so he came up with the idea of photographing carcasses of dead albatross. At lease he could show the evidence of the awful effects of the junk washing to the shores of the Midway and the effects it was having on the island.

Midway Atoll is a U.S. territory located “midway” in the North Pacific Ocean and 3200 miles from both, Seoul, North Korea and Seattle, Washington. The Midway Atoll, you may remember from history books, is the location of an important victory over Japan in World War II for the American navy. Chris Jordan tells the story of this island paradise through his beautiful, disturbing film, “Midway: Message from the Gyre*”. I encourage you to watch the short trailer (3:54) of the film. I believe it will transform the small ideas we have of pollution in our oceans, to a much bigger picture that is overwhelmingly larger than ourselves to fathom. As the narrator (Chris Jordan?) in the film profoundly states:

“Do we have the courage to face the realities of our time and allow ourselves to feel deeply enough that it transforms us and our future. Come with me on a journey through the eye of beauty across an ocean of grief and beyond.”

http://vimeo.com/midway/midwayfilm

Chris Jordan’s film is one of beauty. You will cry. The images are of the Laysan and black-footed albatrosses, gray and white birds with their long beaks, feeding their young. The Midway Islands are the nesting grounds for these birds. The images become truly horrific and gruesome as the film continues. The albatross parents are seen carefully watching over their eggs and feeding their young. They have an unusual way of feeding their young. The mature albatross scoops up the food that they have gathered from the ocean, and then regurgitates the food into the mouths of their young. The food mass is called a bolus. The “food” that the albatross has regurgitated is not the healthy food such as shrimp and crabs that they naturally eat, but is filled with, “nurdles, (A cylindrical shaped pre-production plastic pellet used in manufacturing and packaging), bottle caps, pieces of fish nets, toothbrushes and cigarette lighters”.  The island is filled with fields of colorful plastic and all kinds of other trash. Eating this “food” causes intestinal blockages, perforated gut and results in a loss of nutrition that eventually kills the bird.

Chris Jordan depicts in his photographs this profound and disturbing cycle. By taking pictures of dead birds’ carcasses, Jordan shows that the colorful plastic that the albatross  is so drawn to and has eaten, is detrimental to not only the albatross but to the endangered green turtles,  the Hawaiian monk seals and all of the islands wildlife.

Another short video in the article is, “Plastic Beaches” and shows volunteers cleaning up Midway. They are working hard to rid the beaches of debris but as the video shows, the ocean just brings more plastic to the same beach that they had just cleaned! Further, it is impossible to pick up the tiny bits of plastic that land on the beach. It is discouraging.

http://vimeo.com/8177268

The plastic washing up on the beaches of Midway is no small threat. The nearest land is 2000 miles away and tells the scope of this disaster. Other gyres of pollution are being found in other parts of the world. A floating island is coming to your world soon! It is a horrible reminder of the runaway consumerism of our world and has many ocean scientists concerned. When we see the disaster that is the garbage patch of the North Pacific, we face the reality that it is our mess, created by our world of disposable, throwaway plastic.

As Chris Jordan states in the article:

For me, kneeling over the carcasses (of the albatross) is like looking into a macabre mirror. These birds reflect back an appallingly emblematic result of the collective trance of our consumerism and runaway industrial growth. Like the albatross, we first-world humans find ourselves lacking the ability to discern anymore what is nourishing from what is toxic to our lives and our spirits. Choked to death on our waste, the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but out here.”

“The Fatal Shore, Awash in Plastic” by Mark McDonald

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/the-fatal-shore-awash-in-plastic/?smid=pl-share